It’s weird to say “I found myself at the park” but I’ve found myself at the park. 1000+ hours at the park with friends and friends’ kids I love. In sunshine or rain with backpacks overflowing with food and wipes and band-aids.
Contributing Writer for Munchkin
I'm excited to share I'm now a contributing writer over on the Munchkin blog. I'll be writing about parenting, life with three (almost four!) kids, and my favorite practical baby and kid gear. You can see my first post here: 7 Ways to Get Your Kids in Nature More. Stay tuned for posts on my favorite sippy cups, what's in a mom's diaper bag with 3+ kids, and what it's like having four boys.
Pleasantly surprised and proud to find this on the Munchkin homepage today. Kudos! Thank for standing up for family values.
Evening Walks
We've started a new tradition of evening walks on the weekend. We'll walk along a local path, picking flowers, talking, yelling at Si to slow down on his scooter. :) We've always been a "let's go for a walk" couple, especially while living in New York City since that was the best thing ever. Now that we live in the Bay Area where it's warm enough for walks all year, it's really fun to grab our kids, put them in our double stroller, and walk. I love looking at the amazing houses, the creative yard art, and the incredible gardens. It's really all a ruse to get our kids some fresh air + make them tired = so we can have a conversation. But it's family time too. :)
Do you go on family walks too? Does your neighborhood have great walking paths? I'm all about walkability these days.
Moving Across the Country With Kids
Adjusting, adjusting, adjusting. We moved May 5 and now it's early July. Honestly, I just tried to do the math in my head and I guessed we'd lived in California for four months. I can't believe how much has happened in the last two. What a whirlwind.
I've been surprised that the adjustment has been smoother than I imagined. What's hard is adjusting to two kids—two boys—ages 8 months and almost three. Wow, they are cute but woah they keep me so busy. One second, everything is clean and orderly and the next neither have clothes on, I'm holding some kind of bodily fluid in my hands, and one or both is crying. Some days are really hard. Like, I want to run away or find another thing to fill my time. Sometimes it feels like I get too much home time. But other days feel almost sacred. Even the messes. It's the ins and out of satisfying hungry tummies and teaching a new word. Teaching a fat baby to clap or raise his hands when we yell, Hooray! It's pulling on clean leggings for the fourth time, an unprovoked apology and I wuv you Baby without a sliver of guile. It's messy towheads and declarations from the couch, Mama, We. Need. Dirt. and then we head to the park and kick a soccer ball until the sun goes down. Sometimes my oldest will hold my face in his hands, look in my eyes, and ask me if I am happy. Just like him, I cannot lie. Yes, Silas, I am so happy. Sometimes I'm sad. Sometimes I'm frustrated. Sometimes I'm tired. But I am so happy. Then I ask him, Are you happy? Then he gives me his signature earnest look and says, Dada happy, Mama happy, Baby happy, Si happy. And just like that, we're a family.
Moving was not one flight or just leaving Brooklyn or our stuff placed in PODS and driven across the country. It's been a two month wave of rebounding, over and over and over again. For family time, for couple-time, for moving-in time, for friend time, for work time. It's refiguring all our old systems of time management and adjusting to our new workload, our new family (still new to two kids!), our new church congregation, our new friends, and our new neighborhood. Every day is a slightly uncomfortable adventure and that's where Keenan and I like to be. It's challenging but really good. I've said it before: I love a fresh start. (And pen pals.)
If you just moved, or are moving soon, fist pump. You got this.